Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-05-14

dian is cut of straight at the chest and set
fiat upon this marble. It looks for all the
world as though the rest of the bronze Indian
was concealed within the pedestal, and the
statue has come to be known as "the Indian in
the box" In Statuary hall there il bust of
Abraham Lincoln which represents him with
q robe thrown round his shoulders. 1t is in
marble, and it looks good deal more like a
naked head and shoulders with a sheet draped
around them than anything else. These are
two of the ridiculous features of the art of
the Capitol, and the great building has many
Others which are like unto them. The pict-
ures in the rotunda are full of inconsistencies.
Miles Standish, in the Landing of the Pill
grims," has foot which belongs to a man
who must have been, if nature made him in
just proportions, at least eight and
half feet high, and Standish was, you
know, Of middle size This picture at the
right, which represents the Signing of the
Declaration Of Independence, was dubbed
by John Randolph, of Roanoke, the "Shin
Picture" on account of the row of statesmen
in knee brooches sitting in front of the
speaker, and each with one leg thrown over
the knee of the other. After the picture was
completed this feature of it was SO much
laughed at that the artist was directed to
change it, and he did it by painting tables
in front Of some of the statesmen to conceal
their legs. Overhead, in this dome, is
Brumidfs fresco. 1t represents Washington
on the right and victory on the left, with
thirteen female figures representing the thir-
teen states, and the whole making up series
OF wonderful pictures Brumidi got for this
$4,000, and he put in his own work at $780,
900. He is said to have been free liver, and
the tradition here is that the faces of the
beautiful women which look down into the
rotunda from the ceiling above were modelled
after those of certain women of questionable
reputation with whom the artist was &C
quainted. 80
Perhaps the most laughed at statue at the
Capitol is that of George Washington which,
naked to the waist, sits on a great marble
chair in front of the entrance portico. This
statue was begun by Horatio Greenough, in
1882. The original idea was to make it q
pedestrian statue and to put it in the rotunda
The price was to be 5000, and Greenough
began the work in Florence He got con-
gress to increase the price to $50, 900, and the
statue was completed, think, in 1S4O 1t
made great fuss in this country at that
time, and the question was how to get it here.
By the direction Of congress the secretary of
the navy ordered the commander of the
4hSuieCi SQudulOU W put IL on DOaTu OF
one of his men of war at Genoa and send it to
Washington. But this was before the days
OF much ralroading, and the statue weighed
twenty one tons. 1t was q big job to carry
it from Florence to Genoa. A ponderous car
was erected for it, and it was hauled by
twenty-five yoke of oxen. As it passed
along the Italian peasants took it for an
image of a saint and knelt to it and said their
prayers 1t was found that the hatchway of
the man OF war was not large enough to adj
NIT it, and it then became necessary to
charter merchant vessel.
This vessel delivered it at the Washington
navy yard, and a description of the new
statue was sent over the country When the
prudish patriots of the days of 1910 found
that the pedestrian statue which they had
ordered was sitting in a chair and that it was
half naked, burst of horror went up, and
Henry A. Wise, Of Virginia, declared in a
speech in congress that "the man does not
live and never did live who ever saw Wash
inston without his shirt" 1t cost a big sum
Of money to get the statue from the navy
yard to the Capitol building, and it was then
found that the doorway was too small by
fourteen inches to admit it, The masonry
was cut away so that it could be taken into
the center Of the rotunda, and here a fresh
arose. The floor was too weak to
bear up the twenty-one tons and a solid
PEDESTAL had to be erected from the basement
% the floor of the rotunda- After this was
lone and the statue was placed under the
lone, it was found that it was too large to
ook well, and the next year congress moved
t outside and put shelter over it. 1t has
,een moved several times since then and the |
heller has been taken away. One of the |
oes has been broken off, and it looks very !
old and stiff when the snow piles I'D on
GEORGE Washington's bosom. The statue re-
PRESENTS Washington with one hand upifted,
md Allen e. Thurman used to say that
" ashington was pointing toward the patent
'ffice We're his relics were kept, and mutely
'eseeching that his suit of regimentals be
'ronght to keep away the cold The statue
5 out of place, and though Greenough
bought it was his greatest work, and once
aid he was willing to rest his fame upon it, it
S failure. ~
Clark Mills has an equestrian statue of
Washington on a granite pedestal in Wash
ngton circle. This is at the west of the
White House and just at the edge of the en-
rance to Georgetown. 1t is a much better
work. than that of the jackson statue, which
lands on its heels in Lafayette park. Mills
,ot 100000 for the two, and it is said that
'heh ne was given Une commission to erect
he Jackson statue he had never seen an
questrian statue, and the idea was entirely
lis own. The position is too strained. how
yer, for thing of this kind, and the day OF
he equestrian statue is it seems to me- pass
ng away. People are beginning to laugh at
he trying to honor a man by the bronze
mage of his favorite horse, even as visitors
the White House laugh at President Ar.
hur's vanity when they see his portrait,
Which represents his shapely form clad in
overcoat with a velvet collar.
We have number Of equestrian statues
ere. Glen. Thomas and his horse occupy
bout $4,000 worth Of bronze metal in
homas circle, and it makes the tax payer
Apply when he remembers that the pedestal
which this horse stands cost $25 600. and
nat the four bronzed lamp posts around the
ase cost $4,000 a piece. You never hear any,
hing Of Gen. Greene's statue in the papers.
ut it cost $4,000, and it stands in park
ortheast OF the Capitol surrounded by negro
lanties. There is a statue Of Winfield Scott
ear that Of Thomas which cost $45, coo, and
le horse of which veterinary surgeons will
IL you is modelled upon the wrong plan.
cPherson, in bronze, sits upon a horses
ack just above the Arlington house, and
is statue is one of the fine ones of the can
al -.